


Our Very Own Arizona

by apple9131999



Series: The States of America [19]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 23:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6775576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple9131999/pseuds/apple9131999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I shall choose the first butterfly to land on my nose!"</p><p>"...Elvita..."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Very Own Arizona

_Rhode Island Ave, Washington D.C.- February 24, 1864_

* * *

She had her motto before New Mexico and she counted that as a major success.

She had seen a letter from California with her seal on the back- half broken from when New Mexico had broken it open. She pawned the envelope off of him and wandered to where Minnesota was doing the dishes and asked her about it- especially the funny word on the inside by the lady’s head.

“Oh, that’s a motto,” Minnesota said as she wiped her hands clean of the soapy fluid. “It’s a saying that makes sense with you,” she said in explanation. “Like, if you say Eureka then they’ll think of California.”

“Ohh,” she said, looking at the printed words. “Do you have one?”

Minnesota nodded, _“L'Étoile du Nord._ The Star of the North.”

Arizona had stars in her eyes. “That’s so pretty. Do I have one?”

Minnesota looked confused and she tilted her head to the side. “I suppose you do, but I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Alfred when he comes to dinner.”

“Not everyone has one?” she asked.

“Yeah, it takes years to decide these things. Don’t worry about it.”

* * *

Alfred told her at dinner that her motto was “Ditat Deus” which wasn’t in French like Minnesota’s, but Arizona really liked it. Especially after he translated it for her.

* * *

_Albuquerque, New Mexico- November 4, 1915_

* * *

“C’mon Diego,” she whined when he slammed the door in her face. “It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

“What _fun_ could _that_ be?” he snapped from behind the door.

California next to her snickered and banged on the door. There was an aborted curse and a thump from the other side that had the two of them giggling as New Mexico wrenched the door open again, scowl in place.

“Aletea!” he grumbled as California pushed past him and walked into his foyer and then into the living room. Arizona kissed his cheek as she brushed past him to join California.

She was already spreading out the swatches of colors they had picked up on their way across the entire room. New Mexico paused in the doorway and there was a few suspicious thumps as though he was purposefully hitting his head on the wall.

That’d be silly, though.

* * *

She had decided on federal blue and old gold by the time dinner rolled around. California had gotten up in defeat to go cook them dinner, leaving Arizona sitting in front of the couch that New Mexico was sprawled out along in dejection.

“What do you think, Diego?”

“Beautiful, Elvita.”

“Did you even look?”

“Of course I did.”

“Liar.”

New Mexico groaned. “Elvita, I’m hungry.”

“Well, you don’t get to eat until you pick two colors.”

“Wha-? You let Aletea-”

“But she at least _tried.”_

“Fine,” he said, swinging his legs around to bump her side. He leaned over the many colors they had sorted through. “Here, red and yellow, can I go eat now?”

She pouted. “Fine…”

* * *

_Phoenix, Arizona- April 25, 1931_

* * *

She couldn’t breathe when she jerked awake in the middle of the night. Her chest heaved and it hurt to breathe too deep, lest she feel the rattle of her lungs. She swung her legs out of bed and heaved to her feet, feeling her knees shake and she stumbled to the bathroom.

When she turned the tap, nothing came out and she huffed in irritation, her throat burning.

 _Money’s going to run out, has run out, who knows anymore,_ she thought bitterly as she staggered to her front door. 

“Aletea might have some water to spare, she muttered as she shrugged on a jacket and jammed her feet in shoes. If she did this right, she’d be in California by mid-morning and then could hail a taxi or one of those buses to Sacramento. Or she could go right to the ocean, but she couldn’t drink that.

It would certainly be slow going, as she tripped on her lawn and she couldn’t teleport to her border while she felt this terrible.

She rubbed the sore spot on the heels of her hands from where it had hit the stones in her lawn and scowled at the reinvigorated ache from her knees. She huffed at the moon and her ashy hands. She didn’t have the strength to stand up anymore.

She flopped backwards- slowly though, so she didn’t hit her head on the stones behind her.

She stared at the dark blue sky for a long time, the moon shining down on her. She sneered at it. Her hands were too dry and her stomach had been cramping up too much last night for her to stomach even a little bite to eat, so now, of course, she was ravenous.

A dry breeze swept down the street, carrying the smell of dust and sickly sweet flower nectar. She turned her head as it ruffled her hair. From there, she could see the flower blossoms on the cacti by the border of her property.

Now, it wasn’t like she had never seen them in bloom- they were always open in the morning into late afternoons and she could see them on her days off. But they were just now opening, which in and of itself was rather strange- a flower that bloomed at night was something to behold.

She stared it long enough for her to forget the ache in her bones and the rattle in her chest and the raspiness of her throat. She fell asleep right there.

* * *

In an effort to distract her- and probably not have her burst into tears when he mentioned the money crisis again- her governor had suggested that she pick out another symbol for herself.

(She was reminded of the time Rhode Island had handed her and New Mexico a twenty to go entertain themselves in Providence so that she could pass out while the new babies were asleep.)

Regardless, she morosely flipped through a bunch of photos of various flowers around her territory that someone had probably compiled for this exact reason. She should ask.

She saw her midnight flower on the sixth page and she stared at it for a long time before continuing on, keeping a finger tucked between the two pages to mark her place. There were a lot of pretty flowers, but she couldn’t get the midnight flower out of her mind.

She flipped back to it and managed to wriggle it out of the album. She stared at it again and then took up a pen to scribe on the back;

_This one._

* * *

_Somewhere in the Middle of the Sonoran Desert- June 6, 1973_

* * *

“How did you pick a bird?” she asked as they walked through the desert, hands clasped and swinging between the two of them. New Mexico got cold deep in his bones more often than not nowadays, and it was hard for him to settle down sometimes if something ruffled him. The desert was warm enough and Arizona could always jump them back to her house if he started to overheat.

He raised an eyebrow at her in a mocking tone. “You’ve never needed to ask me before,” he pointed out.

She pouted.

He rolled his eyes skyward, but couldn’t help the smile tugging on his lips and consequently, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling and laughing into the dense dry air. They all had been riding a high after Al had announced that they were pulling their troops home and that Alaska and Hawai’i could go back home.

Arizona loved Hawai’i, but she did not love watching the girl pout and mope because she wasn’t allowed to go home even though she’d been a state for upwards of twenty years.

“So?” she asked after a moment. “How did you?”

New Mexico stared off to the horizon line- the crest of a mountain just visible if you strained your eyes. “The last one I found in Alamogordo.”

She stared at him, pausing amidst a stride. The sun pulsed above them. New Mexico turned to her, his brown eyes sparkling like gold in the light. She could only imagine what her red eyes must look like.

After a moment of scrutiny, he shrugged a shoulder and looked away. “Stop looking at me like that, Ella.”

“Elvita,” she corrected crossly. When he turned to look at her, she raised an eyebrow. “Unless you want me to call you James.”

New Mexico’s nose curled up in disgust. “Fine, Elvita. Just don’t give me that look anymore.”

She huffed and started walking again towards a bundle of cacti where she could vent out her irritation and also get some water to dump over New Mexico’s big, fat head. New Mexico, evidently, had the same idea and walked ahead of her, stomping his feet. It occurred to her that she should probably warn him of rattlers, but he wouldn’t listen to her at all.

Just as he reached the first cactus, there was a rapid flapping noise and a blur of motion that ended with New Mexico on his back and a small bird squawking down at him from atop of the cactus.

After she had ascertained that New Mexico wasn’t any more hurt than usual- the depth of the groan she had gotten in response to her inquiry was no more agonized than normal, she peered up at the bird. She broke into a grin and stepped closer to the cactus, only to be dive-bombed by the angry bird on top of the cactus. She fell on her back easily, laughing up at the sky.

“I want that one,” she said, amid her high-pitched giggles. 

New Mexico groaned loudly beside her. “How in the hell do you choose your symbols? By the first one to attack you? What are you going to do for butterflies?”

She thought about it for a long moment, then triumphantly sat up and bent over him, shaking the sand from her hair onto his stomach. “I will choose the first to land on my nose.”

He only groaned louder. “Elvita…”

* * *

_Phoenix, Arizona- August 11, 2001_

* * *

She was laying on her front steps in the early summer morning warmth, lightly dozing, when she felt a light feather touch on her nose. She opened her eyes and stared down her nose to the insect resting on the upturned part of her nose, it’s glistening black eyes boring into hers. She smiled down at it, her eyes wide in happiness, excitement, and surprise.

With a soft bat of its wings, the butterfly took flight and glided over to one of her flowers. She watched it in fascination for a while, before scrambling back inside to call New Mexico.


End file.
